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US indices traded under pressure today as banking sector woes continue to linger
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PacWest Bancorp slumped over 40% today after the company confirmed that it is reviewing strategic options. First Horizon traded over 30% lower after company terminated merger agreement with TD Bank
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Other US regional banks also trade under pressure. Western Alliance dropped 40% after Financial Times reported that the bank is also looking at strategic options. However, Western Alliance rejected FT report as 'absolutely false'
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European stock market indices traded lower today, pressured by banking concerns as well as ECB decision
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The European Central Bank slowed down the pace of rate hikes and delivered a 25 basis point hike today, in-line with expectations. Deposit rate increased to 3.25% - the highest level since late-2008
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President Lagarde said that it is clearing ECB is not pausing yet
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Reuters reported that some members of ECB governing council expect 2-3 more rate hikes ahead
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Norges Bank delivered a 25 bp rate hike, in-line with expectations, putting the main interest rate at 3.25%
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Chinese manufacturing PMI dropped from 50.0 to 49.5 in April (exp. 50.3)
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Euro area PPI inflation slowed from 13.3 to 5.9% YoY in March (exp. 6.2% YoY)
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US Challenger job-cuts report came in at 67k in April - below 89.7k reported in March
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US trade deficit for March came in at $64.2 billion (exp. -$63.4 billion) as exports increased and imports dropped slightly
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US jobless claims came in slightly above expectations at 242k (exp. 240k)
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EIA report showed a 54 billion cubic feet build in US natural gas inventories (exp. 52 bcf)
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Apple is set to announced fiscal-Q2 results after market close today
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WTI experienced a flash crash overnight which is blamed on a 'fat finger' of an institutional trader. US oil benchmark briefly plunged to below $64 per barrel before recovering losses quickly
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Gold briefly traded at the record highs slightly below $2,080. However, precious metal pulled back later on and now trades in the $2,050 area
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Cryptocurrencies traded mostly lower today with Bitcoin dropping below $29,000 mark
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NZD, CAD and AUD are the best performing G10 currencies while EUR, CHF and USD lag the most
Nasdaq-100 (US100) outperforms other Wall Street indices today, like S&P 500, Dow Jones or Russell 2000. This is because the tech-heavy index does not have any banking shares in it. However, the final of 5 US megatech companies - Apple - is set to report earnings today after market close, which could be an important driver for US100. US100 bounced off the 13,000 pts area today and rallied back to 200-hour moving average (purple line). However, bulls have failed to break above it. Source: xStation5
